Self-Reliance or Outsourcing – It can be a Difficult Decision for Importers

With the latest developments such as the implementation of the ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) or the new drawback law, more and more importers choose self-filing over outsourcing. In their latest Import study American Shipper found out that the percentage of self-filing importers nearly doubled between 2014 and 2016.

One of the reasons for this development are the innovations in the Global Trade Management Software market. For instance OCR, as one of the leading providers for GTM solutions, constantly improved its software for more than 30 years. It is customizable, easy to handle and designed for companies that want to break free from the dependency of brokers. Another reason is the greater amount of metrics and data which can be collected and analyzed by self-filing. Self-filing importers have a better understanding of their performance and more transparency of their business. American Shipper found out 41 percent of self-filers are more likely to track the number of entries filed, they are 47 percent more likely to track errors, and 43 percent more likely to track formal requests from customs.